I find the high percentage of gnostic atheists interesting. Just curious, how do you "know"?

Did God tell you? LOL!!

I think that it has more to do with degree of certainty. I mean, I am quite certain that there is no God of any kind. I admit however that I can't really KNOW that it is true. In the sense of what I believe, there sis no God, but I know I can't prove it. Just like I can't disprove unicorns. That doesn't mean that I consider unicorns or God to be likely at all. Just unprovable. I originally voted gnostic atheist but changed to agnostic just for the sake of intellectual honesty.

I think that it has more to do with degree of certainty. I mean, I am quite certain that there is no God of any kind. I admit however that I can't really KNOW that it is true. In the sense of what I believe, there sis no God, but I know I can't prove it. Just like I can't disprove unicorns. That doesn't mean that I consider unicorns or God to be likely at all. Just unprovable. I originally voted gnostic atheist but changed to agnostic just for the sake of intellectual honesty.

I've used a similar argument against theists who think that somehow because I do not claim to know that there is no God that I must believe in God at least "a little." Ever the optimists, they are.

To me, a god who makes itself completely absent from its creation is no more worthy of belief than a god that does not exist - the end result in my life being exactly the same.

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"That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence" (Christopher Hitchens).

This website is terrible. If you hate Jesus and God, go complain on a blog. Don't hate on people who love and believe in them. I am very religious, and I hate this website. I despise the maker of this website.Jesus is busy. Some people don't really need help. Doctors can help them. Not all of them are religious, so they don't pray for him. Maybe it's part of God's greater plan. Don't question the God who loves us.

This website is terrible. If you hate Jesus and God, go complain on a blog. Don't hate on people who love and believe in them. I am very religious, and I hate this website. I despise the maker of this website.Jesus is busy. Some people don't really need help. Doctors can help them. Not all of them are religious, so they don't pray for him. Maybe it's part of God's greater plan. Don't question the God who loves us.

Seriously? That's all you have to say to the members? I think you can do better...

This website is terrible. If you hate Jesus and God, go complain on a blog. Don't hate on people who love and believe in them. I am very religious, and I hate this website. I despise the maker of this website.Jesus is busy. Some people don't really need help. Doctors can help them. Not all of them are religious, so they don't pray for him. Maybe it's part of God's greater plan. Don't question the God who loves us.

Can I assume you won't be sharing more about yourself and getting to know little old me a little bit better?

Error correction here. We don't hate jesus or god. Neither exist. We're just not al that excited about the way that people who think both are real behave. In general, they are of course good people. Until they start supporting the likes of George Bush and Rick Santorum. Then they are in crazyville and I don't like it.

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It isn't true that non-existent gods can't do anything. For instance, they were able to make me into an atheist.

When those believers engage in hateful, condescending and divisive behavior and speech, then they deserve an appropriate level of contempt and opposition. Especially when they shove their belief into places where it isn't welcome.

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I am very religious, and I hate this website. I despise the maker of this website.

Jesus is busy. Some people don't really need help. Doctors can help them. Not all of them are religious, so they don't pray for him. Maybe it's part of God's greater plan.

The usual lame apologetics from someone who hasn't thought through the implications of their religion.

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Don't question the God who loves us.

If there's a god who loves us, it has yet to reveal itself. The god of the Bible certainly doesn't do any such thing; just read it. In the US, one is free to critique fiction, and the Bible is certainly that.

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Live a good life... If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid.--Marcus Aurelius

"i had learn to focus i what i could do rather what i couldn't do", Rick Hansen when asked about getting a disabling spinal cord injury at 15. He continues to raise money for spinal cord research and inspire peoople to "make a difference". He doesnt preach any religion.

i was watching this thing called spirit science and it had a really good theory about human history... im not for organized religion, and i dont really believe that "god" exist at least not what the idea of god is today... for someone to say that god does exist for certain if foolish, and for someone to say that god doesnt exist at all is very foolish because we dont know, and we never will until we die. im very against organized religion. but i also do believe that people have freedom and we should do what we want as long as we know we're doing good and we dont hurt others. i think the concept of heaven and hell is wrong as well and has been twisted up as time went by... im spiritual, not religious. (;

and for someone to say that god doesnt exist at all is very foolish because we dont know, and we never will until we die.

You will probably catch some flak for that statement. Let me ask you a related question to give you some idea of our perspective - can we say for certain that Zeus or Thor do not exist? If so, why not yhwh?

i also do believe that people have freedom and we should do what we want as long as we know we're doing good and we dont hurt others.

You are probably going to catch some flak for that one too. I do not think it is that simple. You know, back in 2001 there were 19 men who thought they were "doing good" by flying 4 airplanes into our buildings. How does that tie in to your position?

For some reason, I haven't come across this thread particular thread until now.

I answered, "agnostic atheist - I do not know for certain, but I think there are no gods."

I do have to qualify this with the statement that I do fully believe that none of the gods that have ever been posited exist, due to the simple fact that every aspect of reality has shown any claim about them to be false.

The only reason I can't honestly select, "gnostic atheist - I know for certain that there are no gods," is because I can't honestly claim to know for a fact that there's not an invisible omnipotent teapot named Kurt Russell orbiting the planet.

I chose agnostic atheist, even though everything inside of me really wanted to choose gnostic atheist. While I feel very strongly that there definitely aren't any gods or goddesses, I could never say for certainly certain. Unless he decides to reveal himself at some point.....which.....yeah.

As yet another agnostic atheist, I have no reason to suspect otherwise because all we have are stories. All religions have stories. So I am an agnostic atheist for each and every one. I'm not prejudiced.

As AshleyMB said, if the dude shows up, that is one thing. Until he does, I am what I am.

And of course he won't. So I really am what I am.Probably more so than I realize.

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It isn't true that non-existent gods can't do anything. For instance, they were able to make me into an atheist.

Thanks PP! I was going to make an introduction post, but saw in the rules that I had to post something meaningful three times before I could create a post, so here I am. Figured this was probably the second best post to start with.

i strongly believe that any idea of a being higher than the self is completely irrationally ridicoulos. screw god and yalls stick man. not saying i can fart sparkles like jesus or anything but i sure can believe in my self. btw it matters not if anyone agrees or disagrees. were all going to die anyways. lol.

why does your god , so called christian allow children to be molested and brutally beaten unto death ? why doesnt your "god" care ? for if he was so loving would he not hold even his closest "child" when they were in pain ? NOPE !!!!! bc guess what ! reality check. "god" is a mythical being and only that. which is why i go to my local library and place every "bible" into the "fiction" section. makes since .but seriously if there were a god it would not be such a dick to just let its own creations suffer so horrificly.

wow... No wonder the world is a hopeless wasteland of spiritual confusion! I just signed up and this is the first post I came to so thought I would vote. Well Agnostic Atheist would be the closest selection for my current belief although I'm open to anything based on fact. When looking @ your list and reading most debates on religion it is no wonder the Atheist movement is having trouble getting off the ground. Most people pick the wrong battle so to speak. Why debate whether or not there is a god, deity, Creator which will most likely never be proven or disproved by science or mere mortals. Why not instead concentrate on proof that man created all religions on the face of the earth and man wrote the bible without revelation from a deity of any kind? If you could do this which should be possible then the masses are no longer blinded by faith and anything not to mention everthing is back on the table! So how should I vote not knowing if there was a Creator but 99.9% sure man created all religion and wrote the bible?

Why debate whether or not there is a god, deity, Creator which will most likely never be proven or disproved by science or mere mortals. Why not instead concentrate on proof that man created all religions on the face of the earth and man wrote the bible without revelation from a deity of any kind?

With one comes the other. After all atheists need a place to start the debate. An atheists by the very definition of the word believes there is no god and that is a perfectly good place to start the whole 'man created all religions' argument because it gives the christian, creationist, muslim, ::insert religious faith follower here:: and place to start that ::insert faith here:: was created and formulated by man and gullible people quickly followed that faith.

The debate needs to include one side arguing that there is no god. Then the debate can pick up momentum towards the bible and koran are all shitty books written for people who had little to no understanding of how the world really works. That the bible and the koran and all other religious text are all equally bullshit and that religion faith that that religious text proclaims is 'correct' is bullshit just the same.

So how should I vote not knowing if there was a Creator but 99.9% sure man created all religion and wrote the bible?

Just as you claim you are: an agnostic atheist. Unless of course you are a deist whose god has no set rules and instruction for mankind to live up to, but does exist somewhere and doesn't promise eternal paradise or damnation for not giving it worship.

Welcome to the forum.

-Emily

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"Great moments are born from great opportunities." Herb Brooks

I edit a lot of my posts. The reason being it to add content or to correct grammar/wording. All edits to remove wording get a strike through through the wording.

Why debate whether or not there is a god, deity, Creator which will most likely never be proven or disproved by science or mere mortals. Why not instead concentrate on proof that man created all religions on the face of the earth and man wrote the bible without revelation from a deity of any kind?

Welcome to the forum

-Emily

Thanks! I have lots of questions but from my understanding of the rules I can't post? So can I ask you a question since you seem to be a veteran here? I would like to know who is the author of GII.com and if he or she has any books available for purchase? Do you know of any other similar sites or books with potential proof man wrote the Bible. I do realize concrete proof probably doesn't exist but that is why I'm here nevertheless. THANKS

Why debate whether or not there is a god, deity, Creator which will most likely never be proven or disproved by science or mere mortals. Why not instead concentrate on proof that man created all religions on the face of the earth and man wrote the bible without revelation from a deity of any kind?

Welcome to the forum

-Emily

Thanks! I have lots of questions but from my understanding of the rules I can't post? So can I ask you a question since you seem to be a veteran here? I would like to know who is the author of GII.com and if he or she has any books available for purchase? Do you know of any other similar sites or books with potential proof man wrote the Bible. I do realize concrete proof probably doesn't exist but that is why I'm here nevertheless. THANKS

Hi, its obvious that men wrote the bible and that tradition even apparently specifies who many of the men were. Even religious people believe this

The question is, whether or not, they were inspired by God.

A bizillion books exist on why atheists do not think the bible is inspired by God. Dawkins, Hitchens and numerous others are ones you can gander at.

Nobody can conclusively "prove" it to be false. They can show that some historical claims in it are untrue, that the narrative has similarities with other myths and that people often make stuff up about religions. They can also show cases where the church engaged in fraud such as fraudulant artificats.

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"i had learn to focus i what i could do rather what i couldn't do", Rick Hansen when asked about getting a disabling spinal cord injury at 15. He continues to raise money for spinal cord research and inspire peoople to "make a difference". He doesnt preach any religion.

I'm surprised there are a lot of agnostic atheists, I understand even though I'm not agnostic at all. I guess that's due to the infinite regress? It's a paradox that is the ultimate conundrum that no one will ever be able to answer. But I find it indubitably easy to say there is no god, especially if humans dow recreate the big bang with the hadron collider, either was the infinite regress will always be there. For that I think there is no gods. Makes more sense than an intelligent deity made the universe. Just my opinion, wouldn't make sense to me if there was a deity that created the universe with ease, or even it would've been hard for that entity. The infinite regress makes it easier to cope with knowing something has always been, than believing that a 'god' has been around for ever, was just always there. Just my input on the subject or all the titled beliefs. Also, one thing I noticed that makes Christianity not ever valid is because there's no historical evidence, it's even more faulty than the show ghost hunter, where the guys pretend to talk to ghosts, making knocks, and people purposely falling down to act like an invisible ghost. It's testimonials just like the bible, accept we see the testimonials and just know they're false.

A lot depends upon what you mean by prove. A man is convicted up proof. A theorem is established by proof. There are levels of proof.

Gods, whatever else they might be are not scientific entities/abstractions and therefore fall into the category of things, like a civil law case, that require to be proven one way or the other "on the balance of probability."

"On the balance of probability" there never were, are not and never will be any gods.

The main difficulty that the rational person has is finding out what a god is. You will not find two godbotherers of any persuasion who will be able to agree.

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Nobody says “There are many things that we thought were natural processes, but now know that a god did them.”